POSCO Tower, Seoul
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Native name
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포항종합제철 주식회사 (Until 2002) 주식회사 포스코 (Since 2002) |
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Romanized name
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Pohang Jonghab Jecheol Jusikhoesa (Until 2002) Jusikhoesa Poseuko (Since 2002) |
Public | |
Traded as |
KRX: : PKX : : |
Industry | Steel |
Founded | 1968 |
Founder | Park Tae-Joon |
Headquarters | Pohang, South Korea |
Key people
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Park Tae-Joon (Founder and Honorary Chairman) Kwon Ohjoon (Chief Executive Officer) |
Products | Steel, flat steel products, long steel products, wire products, plates |
Revenue | US$ 60.87 billion (2011) |
US$ 8.00 billion (2011) | |
US$ 3.22 billion (2011) | |
Number of employees
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29,648 (2009) |
Subsidiaries |
Posco Energy POSCO India |
Website | posco.com |
POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a multinational steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of 42 million tonnes of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, it was the world's largest steel manufacturing company by market value. Also, in 2012, it was named as the 146th world's largest corporations by the Fortune global 500.
POSCO currently operates two integrated steel mills in South Korea, in Pohang and Gwangyang. In addition, POSCO operates a joint venture with U.S. Steel, USS-POSCO, which is located in Pittsburg, California, United States.
In the 1960s, South Korean President Park Chung-hee's administration concluded that self-sufficiency in steel and the construction of an integrated steelworks were essential to economic development. Since South Korea had not possessed a modern steel plant prior to 1968, many foreign and domestic businesses were skeptical of Seoul's decision to invest so heavily in developing its own industry, Despite the skepticism, under the lead of Park Tae-joon (1927-Dec 2011), then TaeguTec president, POSCO was established as a joint venture between the Korean Government and TaeguTec. It began production in 1972, just four years after the company's inauguration in April 1968 with thirty-nine employees.
Japan provided the money for the construction of the initial plant, following an agreement made at the Third South Korea-Japan Ministerial Meeting in 1969. Financing included US$119million in government grants and loans, US$54 million in credit from the Export-Import Bank of Japan, and technical assistance from Nippon Steel and other corporations. This cooperation was one consequence of the normalization of relations with Japan in 1965 and reflected the view of the government of Japan as noted in the Nixon-Sato communique of November 21, 1969, that "the national security of the Republic of Korea is essential to the security of Japan."